Words

Definitions.

What happens when basic definitions of common words from the past are no longer understood? That’s right, many are ignored, and the rest are redefined.

There are many examples of these words, but let’s pick the word “sin” as our example. The biblical teaching on sin is consistent from beginning to end. But today it has been modernized and redefined. Modern ‘sins’ are environmental destruction, poverty, inequality, inequity etc. Biblical sins are also tweaked or nuanced like judging others, injustice, discrimination etc.

Now look at Jesus’ words in John 3. He doesn’t use the word ‘sin’ specifically, look at what He says, ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.¹⁸ “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. ²¹ But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” John 3:16-21

And then from John 8:24, “²⁴ Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” John 8:24

See the difference? Not only that, the academia and elites have introduced a whole new vocabulary and dictionary to the world. You better be familiar with them if you want to participate in this new world.

I mean whole generations of people who have been getting use to a whole new vocabulary and the corresponding abbreviations to go along with it, like AI or artificial intelligence. Or a large part of our vocabulary that consists of acronymns and abreviations. Here are some that we all know and use without knowing it: IQ, DOB, POW, MIA, NASA, NOAA, and the one we all love, IRS. The list could go on and on. And here are some that are becoming very common even to us older people: DIY, LOL, IMHO, IDK, BFF, are a few that come to mind.

Or less familiar (at least to me) ROTFL, CAPTCHA, YOLO, SMH, EOD, POV.

And then to make things more confusing, there are abreviations, TT--Tiktok, IG—Instagram, SC—Snapchat, and FB—Facebook. I’ll include a key at the end.

Then there’s the most controversial acronymn that has rocked our world, LGBTQIA.

With all the new abreviations, and acronymns, there are also new definitions of words and concepts. Here’s the main thought for this month. Along with new technological words, everyone is learning there are also a dizzying flood of new cultural and social terms and concepts thrown in besides. So we have two things going on,

• a new vocabulary is being thrust upon us, think CRT or critical race theory, for example, (CRT is disctincly a 100 year old Marxist term)

• and second, biblical vocabulary is being conveniently dismantled redefined and forgotten.

Couple that with church attendance on the decline, combined with liberal theology it’s own redefinitions, and you have what exists in our world. This is a very dangerous threat to all of humanity.

We’ve been told we are in a post Christian culture, a world where concepts and words I had always considered universal aren’t understood anymore. What do you do when you have a whole generation that doesn’t know what ‘perish’ means for example?

How many new words have we had to learn in the last 20 years? Words like woke, critical race theory, deconstruction, intersectionality, diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI). You may not know what they are, but I guarantee many of the next generation know. This is what they are learning in school. They have been discipled.

This goes a long way to explain the response of people to the gospel and evangelism. I heard something at a workshop where the speaker was discussing that people may not know, or believe in sin as defined in the Bible, but everyone understands shame. So his suggestion was to substitute the word ‘shame’ in the conversation. I can accept that.

Here’s another example, the primary institutions used to be places of worship. Today it is the therapeutic. That’s an observation I heard a while back. Once the church, now it is the clinic. This is reflected in our vocabulary where everything is a sickness, or requiring medication, removing any moral implications.

Words. Genesis 1 repeats the words, “In the beginning...And God said...” New definitions, abreviations, and acronymns fill our heads. And most people today have no idea.

And the old words of God are discarded by the teachers in our society. If modern man cannot hear the word of God preserved by the Holy Spirit from the dawn of time; if modern man cannot understand the message of good news of Jesus Christ in history, and the writings of the Apostles, then modern man will certainly perish.

Here’s the key I mentioned:

ROTFL—Rolling on the floor laughing.

CAPTCHA--Completely Automated Public Turing Test to tell Computers and Humans Apart

YOLO—You Only Live Once

SMH—Shaking My Head

EOD—End of Day

POV—Point of View

DEI-- Diversity Equity and Inclusion

TWWADW--Thats what we are dealing with.

That’s my view two cents

Pastor Tom ###